Two-thirds Of Sydney Nrl Games Must Be Held At Big Three Venues: Nsw Government

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EXCLUSIVE

The NSW government will require two out of three Sydney NRL games to be played at ANZ Stadium, Allianz Stadium or Pirtek Stadium to justify its $1.6 billion investment into the ageing venues.

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Renovation plans: Allianz Stadium at Moore Park forms part of the state government's stadium policy. Photo: Getty Images

The state government is in negotiations with all major sporting franchises over content agreements to ensure that a sufficient number of games will be secured for the three stadiums undertaking major works. Pirtek Stadium at Parramatta will be knocked down and rebuilt, as would Allianz at Moore Park, while the remaining funds will be used to give the former Olympic venue at Homebush Bay a much-needed makeover.

Figures provided by Champion Data show that 51.2 per cent of Sydney NRL games - excluding finals matches - between 2011 and 2016 have been played at the major three venues with the remainder played at suburban grounds. Fairfax Media can reveal that figure will need to rise to roughly two-thirds before the government commits to the major projects.

"The Premier and I made it clear that content was an important part of our stadium network," NSW Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres said.

"We've seen other states commit to stadiums and be well into the construction and build phase without having content agreements. We don't want to expose the NSW taxpayer to that type of risk.

"We want those content agreements renewed or enhanced so that we know we have the right amount of content to make the stadiums financially viable.

"There is plenty of sporting content available in Sydney, there is plenty of rectangular content in Sydney to underpin the financial position of these stadiums. We will be working with all of the sports around new or renewed content agreements.

"I'm comfortable with where we sit with that. In relation to the NRL, which is the most complex out of all of them because of the multiplicity of franchises. We're very happy with the work the NRL is doing with all of its clubs, we know having a whole-of game approach which is important to the government and the the NRL and we'll work with them on that."

Based on current venue allocation figures, about 15 games currently being played at suburban stadiums will have to move to the big three in order for the figures to stack up. That will raise further questions about the long-term viability of ageing grounds including Leichhardt, Brookvale and Jubilee ovals. Those boutique venues are struggling to remain of NRL standard and have no chance of procuring state government funding, which has been redirected towards the larger stadiums.

Asked what the developments meant for suburban grounds, Ayres said: "There's enough room for us to get the amount of content that we need and flexibility for clubs to choose the right venue for them. We don't want to dictate where individual clubs are. I'm not the CEO of the NRL and I'll leave it up to [ARL Commission chairman] John Grant and his team to make those determinations.

"What we want to be able to do is ensure they have a network of stadiums so they can choose the right venue for the right match."

Pirtek Stadium is scheduled to be demolished at the end of the current NRL season, with Ayres predicting the project will likely be complete by the "second half of 2019".

"For Moore Park, we have a detailed design brief stage we are about to enter, that will give us a lot more information [about time frames]," Ayres said.

"But I can be honest and say we wouldn't have a new stadium at Moore Park completed in this term of government, so it would be after that."

The NRL set a goal of growing average crowds to 20,000 as part of a five-year strategic plan released in 2012. But officials conceded the goal was unachievable only halfway through that period as crowd attendances continue to dwindle.

Ayres said Sydney had fallen behind the rest of the world, and the other Australian states, in relation to sporting infrastructure.

"To use a racing parlance, we're only just beating the ambulance," he said.

"We have to be honest with ourselves about that, if we don't invest in stadiums now we're going to fall further and further behind. The last significant stadium we built was in 1999, before that it was 1988. Every other national city that has major sporting franchises in it has redeveloped all of its stadiums in that period of time.

"Sydney sports fans deserve the best sporting facilities not just in Australia but in the world. We're a passionate sporting city.

"The other reason we need to do that is because sport continues to be an important driver of our state economy, particularly the tourism opportunities generated.

"We've seen in some sports the patronage and crowd figures hasn't grown. I'm strongly of the view the consumer has decided to get their sport somewhere else. We've got to do something different. No business will be successful if it's not investing in the quality of its product and for sport it's not just about what happens on the field siren to siren - it's about door to door, from when the fan leaves the house to when they come home.

"With the investment committed to by the Baird government, we're providing a suite of stadiums that will allow our sports fans access to the best facilities anywhere in the world."



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...government-20160312-gnhcd5.html#ixzz42jLBqf8C
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http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...nues-says-nsw-government-20160312-gnhcd5.html
 
There should be an inquiry into the state govt 'stadia policy'. This smells of corruption. The govt has announced a strategy and now has to pressure sports into committing to use their stupid major stadia. What about the people of northern beaches/north shore, they are expected to cross the harbour bridge or spend several hours taking public transport to Parramatta?
And who is going to make the decision on behalf of NRL, they don't even have a CEO.
It may be sheer ignorance and incompetence but that is the best case scenario, worst case is something smells bad about this policy.
 
The premier stadium should be covered.
Also we have seen how poor the surface at homebush can get if overused.
Roosters, parra, souths dogs and tigers and saints could play out of the three stadiums, which would give them three home games per week.
Leave shark park, penriff and Brookie as local grounds.
 
Content!:banghead:

Bloody Rob Sitch!
Guarantee there's an episode of Utopia where they've piiss taken this word.Only for these knob-heads to take it on as corporate wank speak!
Good luck getting this across the line wankers!

.....side note for the conspiracy theorists..(moi)....nine times "content" was used....Horsehead gave the Eels nine penalties last night to a club looking to get the big upgrade!!!OMG....oh yes indeedy my tin foiled hat friends, the fix is in big time!:eek:
 
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How many of those games will be played at Parra Stadium? I don't see any teams other than Parra playing there, and they don't play finals, so hardly any. Even if you take the Wanderers into account, it's still not much "content".

The NRL should tell the govt to just leave Parra stadium as it is and set the target a 2/3 of 2/3 (ie. circa 44%). That way the target is already hit.

Unless of course they want to give soccer a free kick in western Sydney... (No pun intended)
 
It's great to see the local state member, i.e. The premier of NSW, working hard for his local Rugby League team to keep playing games at the local oval, hence keeping local and non-local dollars in the locality.
 
they can have our 2 games as long as the other 10 are at Brooky.

Leave parra as is and save half giving the rest to brooky and other suburbans
 
Seriously we have got to change the political system, because clearly it is not working on so many levels. Again government just like the NRL is, are open to manipulation and corruption. All for personal gain rather than intelligent well thought out plans to improve things for the betterment of society as a whole. The greedy few at the top pulling the strings need to be stopped.....!!!!
 
Homebush is 10 kms from Parramatta and yet they deserve new grounds .If these Govt ****w!ts would open their eyes on occasion they may see something..
 
Pretty sure the state government can't tell NRL clubs where to play.

Also, if we think it's going to bad for is, imagine the poor Bronco/Titan/Cowboy and Storm fans
 
These myopic governments will destroy rugby league on the north shore of Sydney. No way 20,000 will turn up consistently at stadiums from the north. Someone in government needs a good kick in the head.

The Super League has already eliminated about 13000 supporters from the League by removing North Sydney. If they had put a team on Central Coast it may have countered that loss. But oh no, the wise heads decided its Rugby Union territory so League has been lost there.

Now if they try to move Manly to the stadiums, within 5 years the club will close and another 14000 will be lost as support for the game. That's near 30,000 the League and governments are sacrificing on the false premise that it is satisfying the needs of supporters. Bullcrap
 
The plan is to have us all sitting at home on our meds, credit card in hand, playing vitual reality fantasy league by joystick. Then they can justify selling off the unused stadiums to house more "football fans"
 
Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
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